Combining skills, pooling resources, getting together to build fun stuff — and perhaps contributing to the next Industrial Revolution — that’s part of the Maker movement.
This weekend, Atlanta will host a Maker Faire, welcoming 215 Maker groups from as far away as India and Australia to downtown Decatur for a two-day outdoor event expected to draw 15,000 visitors.
There are a half-dozen Maker groups around Atlanta, from the edgy Freeside group housed in a West End warehouse (where members recently built an off-road wheelchair) to Geekspace Gwinnett and the fledgling Maker Station off the square in Marietta. In Georgia, the trend seems to be gaining momentum.
Dozens of Maker Faires are hosted around the country each year by such groups, but this is the first year that Atlanta’s fair will be big enough to become a “featured” fair. That means it will receive significant promotion from Make: Magazine, the do-it-yourself bible that kick-started the Maker movement.
Previously held on the Georgia Tech campus, the Maker Faire Atlanta outgrew those surroundings this year. It is the biggest such event in the Southeast, and also the only fair of its size that isn’t charging admission; it is supported by volunteers, the city of Decatur and corporate sponsorships.
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